Increase seating to 1,500 at Costa Mesa High (both sides of the field)

Increase seating to 1,385 (the most the land can accommodate) at CdM

Add building for concessions; storage; restrooms.

Add lights on field

Costa Mesa High School cost: $11.5 Million

Corona del Mar High School cost: $11.3 Million

OPTION 3

Add team rooms; additional storage; entry site definition – this would match Jim Scott Stadium and the proposed renovation of Davidson Field.

Costa Mesa High School cost: $12.5 Million

Corona del Mar High School cost: $13.5 Million

Long simmering tensions over high school construction projects sent many attendees home with shaking heads Tuesday night after the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board could not decide how to distribute $15.8 million amongst three high schools.

The three projects in question, funded mainly by money from the city’s shuttered Redevelopment Agency, are football stadiums at Costa Mesa and Corona del Mar high schools and an estimated $27 million theater project at Estancia High.

Board member Katrina Foley, an advocate for the stadiums, was one of those frustrated after her motion to split up the $15.8 million between the two stadiums was denied in favor of more discussion.

“It’s just unfortunate because there have been a lot of people who have worked very hard on these projects and the board keeps stringing them along,” she said.

Parents and boosters from CdM and Costa Mesa high schools gathered to show their support for the stadium projects. Some argued the stadiums would increase property values while others said the schools were long overdue for new facilities. Parents from Costa Mesa pointed out that their field had not been renovated in 50 years.

Todd Gordinier, a lawyer and a volunteer track coach at CdM, said high school sports helped him attract the attention of Harvard University when he was a kid.

“For some kids, participating in sports is a way for them to move up in life,” Gordinier said.

No one spoke against the stadiums, but some on the board believed all the talk of athletic fields was neglecting Estancia and its hope for a new theater building.

“I don’t disagree that they deserve stadiums,” said board member Martha Fluor. “I disagree with saying that one school should get nothing.”

Advocates for the fields argued that Estancia should be left out because they already have Jim Scott Stadium, which Costa Mesa also uses as its home field.

Board member Karen Yelsey was alone in her contention that the money should be split evenly amongst the three schools, while the majority of the members wanted to deliberate further.

Shortly after, a shouting match erupted between Foley and Fluor, who could not agree on how to vote.

As the meeting length crept toward four hours, the board finally voted to have more discussion and to assemble an equity committee to investigate how to distribute the money fairly. That committee is expected to present its findings to the school board by Nov. 1.

Newport Harbor High was mostly excluded from the conversation because the district had previously already pledged more than $9 million has to renovate Davidson Field.

Parents, boosters and coaches for the Costa Mesa stadium wondered if the six years they had spent planning and gathering support would just become a footnote in another failed attempt to improve their facilities.

“It’s frustrating,” said Frank Albers, a football coach at Costa Mesa High. “Nice facilities draw kids to the programs. You need those facilities to draw kids to play at any level.”

He referenced the field at Estancia, which has won three Orange Coast League titles in the past six seasons.

“They opened up the stadium and now they have over 100 kids and their program is growing. They’re coaches are doing a fantastic job,” Albers said.

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